According to experts, the bird has only been spotted a handful of times this season in the whole of the UK.

Black-throated Thrushes breed in Southern Siberia and can be identified by their black bill with yellow base, grey plumage and black tail.

Life-long bird spotter Chris Batty from Knott End said: "I turned up at dawn this morning after I saw footage of a Black-throated Thrush posted on the Facebook page - 'UK Wildlife Photographers' yesterday evening. We've been lucky because we actually saw it here at 6.20am today.

"The bird looks to be a young female who was probably born last year. We think it's likely it took a wrong turn and the favourable Easterly winds last October helped the bird make it to the UK.

"It's really exciting because it's the first time it's been spotted in Lancashire.

"We're experiencing a really happy phenomenon in bird-watching at the moment where images and videos are being shared to social media and experts are then able to identify rare birds. This means we are now more able than ever to spot some very rare birds."

A spokesman for the RSPB said: "There have been several sightings of the Black-throated thrush in different parts of the UK this winter, including on RSPB Adwick in South Yorkshire, but the one that has been spotted in Fulwood this weekend is a first sighting of this species in Lancashire which is very exciting.

"These birds normally spend the winter in parts of the middle and far east and then breed in Siberia, so it is rare to get them in this country.

"Just like our more commonly seen thrushes (such as blackbirds and mistle thrushes), black throated thrushes feed on insects, worms and a variety of berries."